A Journey Beyond
by Misa5
Summary: AU. When a young woman who isn't all she appears to be is taken to the Digital and confronts Myotismon with the other kids, things get wild when they all return to the Real World and Myotismon turns his attention to her! Rated for strong violence and some
1. And Thus It Begins

_**A Journey Beyond**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, I only own my own chars and locations.

Plot: AU. A young wolf-Lycan is transported to the Digital World, just before Gennai informs Tai and the others that there is an Eighth Child. But when Myotismon turns his attention to her upon her return to the Real World, will she be able to survive her journey?

I am Shavirin MoonShade, and I am a wolf-Lycan. Most people think that a Lycan is a werewolf, but a Lycan is any creature infected with Lycanthropy. Just thought I'd clear that up.

I am 17, but in wolf-Lycan years I'm barely older than a pup. I stand around 5'6'', I have long red-gold hair, my eyes are deep silver. I'm pretty good-looking too, or at least the male wolf-Lycans I've met over the years have said so. But men like to exaggerate things, so I usually ignore their howls.

One night, when the moon was full, I was running with the Pack (which consisted of my Mother, my Father, my two younger brother Kio and Pagii, my older sister Renia, and a few cousins), enjoying the feel of the wind against my fur. You should know that in my wolf-form, I'm about twice the size of a normal wolf. My fur is dusty brown with white spots around my eyes, which are amber.

We were following the scent of a deer that had wondered into the city, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows. After all, it never did a Lycan of any kind good for a human to see them. The deer knew we were on its tail, and fear was causing it to blindly run into an alley we knew was a dead-end.

My Father, whose name is Taikoto, gave a low growl as the deer slid to a halt, unable to go any further.

::Be careful now, my family. Fear makes a beast stronger, like anger.::

We nodded as we began to make a half-circle, closing in around the frightened creature. Its fear rolled off it in waves, its frantic heartbeat pounding in my ears, resonating in my skull. Its eyes were rolled white, and flecks of foam flew from its mouth as it jumped and desperately looked for a way to escape us.

It was hopeless.

With blinding speed, my Mother, named Kiiko, lunged forward. She landed on the deer's back, clawing at its haunches, forcing its rear to the ground. My Father then went for the throat, the most dangerous part of a kill. Deer have very sharp hooves, and there's always the risk that the one who goes for the throat will get sliced up. But Father was an experienced hunter when it came to deer, and he expertly dodged the flailing hooves as his jaws clamped around the deer's soft throat.

The doe bucked and gave a choked scream, while Mother and Father worked to bring it down. After it fell, Mother looked at us, her gold eyes flashing.

::Come now, it is almost time.::

The rest of us approached, waiting until the deer was dead and Mother and Father began to eat before joining. Wolves have a strict pecking order, with the Pack leaders, an Alpha male and female, eating first, then the pups and old ones, and finally the rest of the Pack. But we were a tight family, and we always ate together.

But something was wrong this night.

As I padded over to the deer carcass, growling in my throat as the hot scent of blood reached my sensitive nose, another scent wafted towards me. The rest of my Pack, already gorging themselves on hot flesh and blood, didn't notice it.

With a low growl, I turned from the Pack and the deer, sniffing the air. The scent was getting stronger. I looked over my shoulder, at my Mother and Father and the others, and decided they wouldn't miss me if I slipped away for a few moments.

With a feeling of excitement tightening my chest, I padded away from the feed and followed the strange new scent. I soon found myself in another alley, this one also a dead-end.

There was a strange, bluish-white light before me.

I knew it was some sort of portal. The scent coming from it was otherworldly. Pleasant, but bitter at the same time. I took a few cautious steps forward, a rumble rising in my chest. Suddenly, the portal flared. I yelped in shock and jumped back, but I was moving too slow.

The last thing I saw before the portal engulfed me was a blinding light.

When I was next on solid ground, I realized instantly I was in my human form. I gave a wolfish yelp, startled. How had that happened? I looked at my hands, feeling strange. Where was I?

I looked around, my keen eyes scanning the land. I was in a woods, near a large castle. Scents I'd never known rushed at me, causing me to sneeze. I heard strange calls, and, amidst them, the voices of people. I shook my head, wondering what to do.

I tried to change into my wolf-form, but I couldn't. That scared me, because ever since I could remember I was able to change at will. I looked at my hands again, fear worming through me.

We Lycans of all kinds have various powers. Ki usage, levitation, transforming between human and Lycan form. Some of us have magick and psychic abilities. I myself was adept at ki and flying. So, I tried to levitate, and found I was unable to. I concentrated, and was relieved when a ball of ki appeared in my hands. I let is absorb back into my body and then concentrated more on my hands and body. I found I could induce a slight change: fingernails becoming claws, teeth into fangs, my muscles reforming slightly, my hair becoming somewhat mane-like. It was nothing close to a full change, but it was something.

I reverted back to full human form and tested my strength, speed, and agility. All had been severely reduced. After a few minutes, I stopped.

"I have made a large mistake," I muttered to myself. Then I remembered that there were others here. Maybe they could tell me where I was and how to get back home.

I headed off, following the voices until I came to a wall of the castle. There were seven kids and seven strange looking creatures with them, surrounding a holograph of an old man. None of them noticed me as I emerged from the trees.

"The bad news is Myotismon also knows of the Eighth Child and will be heading to Tokyo," the old man was saying. "You seven must get to the Child before he does!"

"Tokyo!" a boy with spiky hair and a pair of goggles exclaimed. "How are we supposed to get to Tokyo?"

"Find a way!" the old man said. Then he happened to glance in my direction. The others noticed his attention on me and turned as well.

"Oh great! Don't tell me you're here to make us even more miserable!" A young man with blue hair and large glasses moaned. A little white creature with a red mane and strange markings patted his leg. I blinked.

"Uh...no. Actually, I was bought here by a portal. Err...where am I?"

"This is the Digital World," said a little orange lizard by the boy with the goggles.

"And what are you?"

"We're Digital Monsters, or Digimon for short. I'm Agumon, and this is Tai, my Partner."

"There will be time for introductions later!" the old man said as I tentatively joined them. "Right now you HAVE to stop Myotismon from getting to the Real World!"

"Right!" Tai said. "Alright gang, let's head out and move in!"

"Um, Tai, we need to find a way in first," said a young woman with a blue hat. A pink bird was standing beside her.

"Yeah, that's true," Tai admitted.

"Leave it to us!" Agumon said. A small, plant-like Digimon with a flower on its head nodded.

"Me and Agumon will get you guys in!" With that, the two Digimon ran into the castle.

"Be careful!" cried a girl in pink, so much pink it made me sneeze.

"Good luck!" the old man called after them.

"And that's how it happened. Pretty amazing, huh? We've been here for months! Let me tell you, this world takes some getting used to," Tai said. I smiled and nodded.

"It certainly is, and I'm sure it does take getting used to." Tai had just finished introducing the other children and the Digimon, and telling me of their journey so far.

"Hey, maybe YOU'RE the Eighth Child!" Mimi, the girl in pink, said. The boy with blue hair and the glasses, whose name was Joe, shook his head.

"Gennai already said the Eighth Child is in Tokyo."

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

The others sighed. TK, a young boy wearing a green hat, looked up at me as I stood against the wall of the castle.

"So how did you get here?"

I watched him, then looked at the others. I hadn't told them about myself yet. I wondered how they would take it.

"Well, see, I'm a Lycan, for starters."

"A what?" the others inquired. Izzy, the brains of the group, shook his head.

"A Lycan is any creature affected by the Lycanthropy disease. Animals infected can shift between their human forms and their Lycan ones."

"Like a werewolf?!" Tai cried. I scowled.

"Not exactly," I answered. "Unlike a werewolf, I can transform at will, and I look like a normal wolf except I'm much bigger. I'm a wolf-Lycan, if that last comment didn't tell you. Anyways, I was hunting with my Pack...my family...when I smelled something I never had before. I left the Pack because I wanted to find it. I found a portal, and when I tried to leave, it sucked me up and plopped me here."

"Wow," TK said. "I bet you miss your family huh?"

"I'm not so much worried about that, as I am about what the Pack will do when they realize I'm gone."

"Yeah, I bet all our families are freaking out right now trying to find us," Matt, another young man with blonde hair, said softly. There was silence for a moment, then Tai looked up, scowling.

"Agumon and Palmon sure are taking a long time..."

"I'm sure they're fine," Sora, the girl with the pink bird Digimon Biyomon, said. Just then, we heard a call from above us."

"Tai, we're good! Come on up!"

We looked up to see Agumon and Palmon leaning over the top of the castle wall. Palmon extended her vine-like fingers and lowered them to us. She wrapped them around Tai and Mimi, then lifted them up to the top of the wall. It took a few moments, but finally we were all on top of the castle. I was last to go.

"Come on guys!" Matt said. "We have to stop Myotismon!"

We walked for a while, sometimes getting split up in the odd corridors, which appeared to be upside down or sideways at times. When we finally managed to get back together for about the third time, we were all feeling a little ill. Joe looked like he was in need of one of those bags airplanes offer you, in case you get airsickness.

"This is too much for my stomach," he moaned, leaning over the rail of the corridor we were standing in. Gomamon was patting his leg, trying to help make him feel better.

"Now what?" Matt muttered. "We're getting so lost it isn't funny. I can't tell if I'm up or down anymore!"

"I'm just confused," TK said. His Digimon, a little cream-and-white Digimon with wings on his head whose name was Patamon, nodded in agreement. It was then I heard voices. I looked around and saw dark silhouettes moving in a large group in the direction we were moving.

"Look!" I hissed, waving my hand to them. The others watched for a moment, then Tai nodded.

"Let's go!"

"By the way," I added, realizing I'd forgotten to mention it earlier, "I'm Shavirin Moonshade. Nice to meet you all!"

We soon came to a large stairway. I could hear voices echoing up towards us from below.

"I hear someone talking," I said, listening closely. The voice sounded cold and smart, and the person was going on about "celebrating in the glory of our new world." But to the others, who were only human after all, the voices were muted and muffled. They watched me as I listened.

"Well? What are they saying?" Tai asked after a moment. I waved a hand to silence him, but the speaker had fallen silent.

"Something about...a new world and celebrating in the glory, or something like that." Then I heard the person talking again.

"These cards no longer pose a mystery to me. Now! Open the gates to my destiny!" I repeated these words, and Matt narrowed his eyes.

"That would be Myotismon!" he said, a fire burning in his gaze. The others nodded and we began to run down the stairs.

"Not so fast!" Tai cried as we dashed.

"Who is it? If you work for me can't you see I'm busy?" came the irritated reply. After a moment we were back on level ground, and I got my first look at Myotismon.

I have to admit, I was impressed by his regal appearance. Not to be stereotypical or anything, but a lot of the time, the bad guy has a habit of looking ridiculous. Not so with this guy. He turned to face us, but he didn't seem to notice me at first.

"You're too late, I've already opened the gates to the Real World!" Myotismon said, smirking.

"Hey!" cried a sudden voice. It took me a moment to locate the source. A black-and-blue bat-like creature was flapping around above our heads. "Boss! There's another kid with them!" Myotismon looked up at the little Digimon, then followed his gaze to me. He smiled faintly.

"Indeed there is..."

"Agumon! Digivolve!" Tai cried out a small device on his belt began to glow.

"Right! AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO...GREYMON!" A glow surrounded Agumon, and when it faded, he was much larger. He had blue stripes on his body now, and a bony plating covering his upper skull. Two horns protruded from the sides of this plating, and a horn curved from Greymon's snout as well.

"Us too!" cried Gabumon, a Digimon that looked like a dog with a horn on his head and an Easter egg decoration on his chest. "GABUMON DIGIVOLVE TO...GARURUMON!"

"PALMON DIGIVOLVE TO...TOGEMON!"

"TENTOMON DIGIVOLVE TO...KABUTERIMON!"

"BIYOMON DIGIVOLVE TO...BIRDRAMON!"

"GOMAMON DIGIVOLVE TO...IKKAKUMON!"

Garurumon resembled a giant, blue wolf. Togemon looked like a giant cactus with boxing gloves. Kabuterimon was a giant insect Digimon whose body was covered in a hard, blue exoskeleton with metal covering over his upper head. Birdramon was a large, orange firebird whose maw was filled with sharp fangs. Ikkakumon looked like a giant, white seal with a horn on his head. The six of them stood between us and Myotismon. I shot Patamon a look, wondering why he hadn't Digivovled, an action which Tai had also explained to me earlier.

"All right guys! Let's put an end to this!" Matt said, and the Digimon gave cries of assent.

"I don't think so!" a cat-looking Digimon with yellow gloves and a large, golden ring around her tail cried suddenly. I wondered where she came from as the ring around her tail began to glow. "DeviDramon, come to life!"

Suddenly, statues of large, black, Dragon Digimon with four red eyes leapt to life. Four of them, to be exact. They instantly began to attack Greymon and the others. I was watching when I realized Myotismon was looking at me. I faced him, feeling the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rising. The reek of Vampire clung to him. If I had been in my wolf-form, my hackles would have been up. He gave a little smirk, and then began walking towards me.

"Stop!" Tai cried as he stepped before me. Matt and the others, even TK, followed suit, so the seven of them were standing in front of me, as if by sheer will alone they could keep Myotismon back. He only gave a cold chuckle and continued forward.

"So you found someone to help you, did you? I can assure you it won't do you any good. Soon I will be in the Real World, and I'll find and destroy the Eighth Child!" He kept approaching, and I could feel a growl beginning in my chest. It moved and grew until it was a loud, angry sound that made Tai and the others jerk. Myotismon paused for a moment, regarding me. "Quite frisky, eh?" He laughed and took a few more steps forward. Without thinking, I shoved forward between Tai and Matt.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Joe asked as I moved forward. The growl was still going; I couldn't stop it, instinct was telling me this being before me was pure evil. Myotismon watched me as I stopped about two feet away from him.

"You're either remarkably brave or incredibly stupid," Myotismon remarked. I snorted softly.

"I don't know you or how strong you are, so maybe it's a mix of both," I offered. Myotismon smirked.

"Either way, it won't help you. But I'm curious as to exactly how you got here, and why you seem to enjoy growling at me."

"I don't really know how I got here, and I'm growling at you because I can. I guess humans don't growl at their opponents though, do they?"

"Ahh, so, you aren't human?"

"Not even close."

Myotismon laughed a little. "Well, if you aren't human, perhaps I should do away with you now and save myself the hassle of dealing with you, if you should find a way to the Real World?"

"Try me, I'm all for a good fight. After all, deer aren't very strong compared to one of _my_ kind!" I snapped. I could tell he was toying with me, but it didn't matter. I was trying to give Greymon and the others time to destroy the gates to the Real World. I didn't know how I was going to get _back_ to the Real World, if these gates ended up being destroyed, but even after just a few moments of knowing him, I knew I had to help the others stop Myotismon. This evil could not be allowed to run rampant!

"Stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Tai cried. "Please Shavirin!" The others were echoing his cries for me to step down, but I wasn't about to. Lycans, especially wolf-Lycans, never back from a challenge.

"You should listen to your pathetic friends!" Myotismon said as he lifted a hand. Red energy crackled to life and lengthened into a long whip. "CRIMSON LIGHTENING!" He slashed the whip of red lightening-energy at me, and I nimbly jumped over the attack. I landed and darted forward, letting my claws replace my nails as I charged forward. Myotismon seemed somewhat surprised by my speed as I lunged for him, thrusting my claws at his chest. Just before I would have hit him, though, he shifted and I flew by him. I landed in a crouch and whirled, growling deeply.

"For a child, you're quick," Myotismon said. I smirked.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" I held out my hands as blue-gold energy formed between them. The energy shimmered as I narrowed my eyes. "BLITZ CANNON!!!" I cried, letting loose the ki beam. Myotismon crouched slightly, crossing his arms over his chest as the attack hit him dead-on. A cloud of smoke kicked up, and I looked around. It couldn't have been that easy.

"NIGHTMARE CLAW!" A burning sensation flamed between my shoulders and spread across my back. I gave a cry and staggered forward, then turned. Myotismon smirked, one hand outstretched, his fingers ending in deadly claws. Blood dripped from them, _my_ blood. I could feel the hot liquid soaking the back of my shirt. Tai and the others cried out when they saw what were apparently pretty bad injuries. Myotismon laughed softly.

"You let your guard down," he said as the claws vanished. I growled angrily.

"You're getting cocky," I snapped, then charged forward, slashing at him. Myotismon dodged each blow, until suddenly he hit a wall. He shot a look behind him, startled. I snarled and slashed at him again, this time catching his midriff as he managed to dodge to the side. He gave a growl of anger as he stood, blood trickling from the three gashes.

"Well, I must commemorate you. I have never been struck before, at least not with such a physical attack."

"If you think flattery is going to help, you're going to be really disappointed!" I answered.

"NOVA BLAST!"

"ELECTRO SHOCKER!"

"HARPOON TORPEDO!"

"METEOR WING!"

"NEEDLE SPRAY!"

"HOWLING BLASTER!"

Six attacks suddenly converged upon Myotismon, and when they collided, the explosion rocked the castle. A huge billow of dust kicked up, and I wondered if this was it. Then I remembered how many times the six Champion Digimon (as I remembered them being called by Izzy, who explained the various levels of Digivolution to me) had attacked Myotismon before, and how some of them had Digivolved to Ultimate, and _that_ hadn't been enough.

Just as I was wondering how long this smoke was going to keep flying around, a crimson streak zipped by. I cried out as an electric pain coursed through me and I was sent flying backwards. I landed on my back, which caused the wounds to flare in pain. I growled as I struggled to my feet, in time to see the whip slam into Garurumon and the others. The Champions fell back, and when the smoke finally cleared, I saw a carriage was beginning to move through the open gates. Myotismon was standing in the doorway of the carriage, smirking at us as the bat-Digimon landed on top of it.

"Farewell, DigiDoomed!" he mocked, laughing as the carriage vanished through the doors.

"Quick!" Tai cried out. "We need to get through those gates before they close!" Which was going to be soon, as they were beginning to shut rapidly.

We ran forward, but suddenly two DeviDramon slammed down before us.

"NOVA BLAST!"

"HOWLING BLASTER!"

"HARPOON TORPEDO!"

The attacks shot by us and collided with the DeviDramon, and Greymon slammed into one of them and started to wrestle around with it, trying to knock it over as Garurumon lunged for the second one.

"Go!" Matt shouted as we continued on, running under the fighting Digimon. Before we even got a couple feet ahead, though, two more DeviDramon came at us.

"No!" Sora cried, staring at the two huge Digimon. "We have to get to the gates!"

"METEOR WING!"

"NEEDLE SPRAY!"

"ELECTRO SHOCKER!"

Again, the attack shot overhead, slamming into the DeviDramon. Togemon charged one of them and threw a punch to its gut, while Birdramon kicked at the other with her talons.

"Get moving!" Kabuterimon called down to us.

"On it!" Joe replied as we began to run again. Then I noticed the little cat-Digimon, standing in the inside of the doorway, watching us with an amused expression.

"Gatomon!" Tai shouted.

"Come on, you don't want to leave already do you?" she asked in a mocking voice, the ring around her tail glowing once more. Three more DeviDramon sprung to life and crashed down, blocking out path.

"We'll never make it at this rate!" Mimi cried.

"Keep running!" Izzy replied. "We waste more time each time we stop!"

"HOWLING BLASTER!"

"HARPOON TORPEDO!"

"NEEDLE SPRAY!"

"NOVA BLAST!"

The four attacks all hit the three Digimon at the same time. We didn't bother to stop as smoke billowed around us, obscuring our view. Then the dust settled, and as I saw the gates closing, I knew we weren't going to make it.

"Tough luck, you little brats!" Gatomon called "Have fun while we find the Eighth Child and destroy him!" She laughed as the gates finally slammed shut just as Tai reached them. Despite his best efforts, Tai couldn't stop in time and ended up crashing into the closed doors.

"Argh!" he cried as he fell back, falling onto his rear. Sora and Matt knelt by him and helped them stand. "No!" he cried, pulling from the two of them and going to the gates, pounding on them with both fists. "No no no no NOOO!!!"

"Come on Tai, stop it before you hurt yourself," Sora said softly. I nodded.

"Beating the doors until you break your hands won't do anyone any good."

"Now what do we do?" TK asked softly.

"We have to find some way to open these gates again," Izzy replied.

Greymon and the others de-Digivolved back to their Rookie forms, joining us a moment later. Agumon put a paw on Tai's leg.

"Come on, let's get out of this place and come up with an idea."

"Not only that, but Shavirin needs to have her back looked at," Patamon said. I gave a little laugh.

"I'm fine, really."

"Well, your wounds _do_ need to be cleaned and dressed to prevent any infections from setting in," Izzy said. I shrugged.

"I have a much better immune system than a human, but I don't know what kind of nasty little things might be lurking in this world, so I guess you have a point."

"Well, let's go then," Biyomon said. We all looked at Tai. He said nothing for a moment, but then nodded.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

Well, here is chapter one. What do you guys think? Be honest now, no one likes bad criticism, but it's one of the best tools a writer can use. So lemme know! Skips off to start chapter two.


	2. Return To The Real World

_**A Journey Beyond**_

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Good enough for you?

Note to Anonymous reviewer who posted the first review: Dude you're taking this WAY too seriously. Also, this is an AU, so it isn't supposed to follow the exact story. Or did that fact pass you by completely? If I wanted I could have Hikari die but I ain't gonna. So back of and chill down. I'm only gonna say this once, I DON'T WANT FLAMES PEOPLE! If you don't have something useful or encouraging to say, then don't say it. If you don't like the fic then not like it in a way that's not rude. From now on if I get any more flames I'm gonna make sure that person gets a nice nasty little flame themselves. Okay, enough rambling and onto chapter two!

Last time in A Journey Beyond: Shavirin Moonshade, a wolf-Lycan, was hunting a deer with her family when she suddenly caught scent of a portal to the Digital World. She followed the scent and was sucked up by the portal before she could think! Once in the DigiWorld, she met with Tai and the others just as Gennai was telling them of the Eighth Child. The group, along with their new friend, stormed Myotismon's castle to stop him from getting to the Real World. He and Shavirin fought, the group was attacked by SEVEN DeviDramon, and in the end, Myotismon ended up passing through the gates into the Real World! But before the gang could, the gates to the Digital World shut in their faces! Anyone got a plan B?

"I'm sure you did all you could," the holograph of the old man, who I had learned was named Gennai, said.

We were all sitting or standing around the holograph, and we had just finished telling Gennai what had happened. But there was a slight problem.

"Now then, Shavirin, was it? Let me see your back." I sighed and turned, and heard Gennai suck in a breath. "Well, Myotismon nailed you a good one, didn't he?" I turned to face him, giving a little smile. I lifted my shirt enough to show my stomach, revealing a long, bloody welt, where Myotismon's Crimson Lightening had hit me. Everyone gasped. "My! He really _did_ get you!" Gennai replied after a moment. I chuckled.

"You could say that," I answered. Joe was beginning to look ill again.

"I never did like the sight of blood. I freak when someone gets a papercut!"

"What do we do now?" Sora asked Gennai.

"Well, you'll have to come to my house. I can help you better once you arrive. Now, look up."

"What kind of directions are those?" Mimi asked, scowling. Gennai chuckled.

"Very good ones. Now look up already!"

We did, and I noticed in the distance a light waving back and forth. Izzy and the others saw it too.

"A searchlight?" Izzy asked. Gennai nodded.

"Follow that light. I'll be waiting!" With that, the holograph flickered, then vanished. TK looked at Matt.

"Matt, I'm hungry."

"You know, so am I," Matt replied.

"We can't worry about that right now," Tai said. "We have to get to Gennai's house and find out how to get to the Real World so we can stop Myotismon!"

"Yeah," TK said. "You're right."

"Well, let's get going if we're going," Sora said.

And with that said, we were off.

"You know, that light didn't seem so far away before!" Joe complained. "Gennai could have warned us."

We had been walking for a while, and everyone was getting tired. I was as well, but only because of my wounds, which were burning. Just as I was getting ready to add something to Joe's whining, we exited the woods.

Before us was a large body of water, like a mini sea. But, something wasn't right.

"Uh, guys? Is it just me, or is the light coming from the water?" Tai asked. Izzy scowled.

"Perhaps Gennai gave us the wrong coordinates?" he offered. The others were looking puzzled. Then the ground began to shake. I yelped and the others quickly grouped together.

"Now what?!" Mimi cried as the water began to part. Thankfully, it wasn't the impending attack of some evil beast wanting us for dinner, but some strange mechanism that was revealing stairs.

"Do we go?" Matt asked.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," I replied. "Unless one of you feels like swimming down there."

"I'm probably allergic to digital water," Joe muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Let's use the stairs."

We started down the stairs, watching the fish swimming in the waters to either side of us. I was tempted to snatch one and eat it, but I figured that might not appeal to the others, especially Joe. I didn't feel like making anyone sick.

After about five minutes, we were back on level ground. There was a large house not too far away, and he headed for it.

"Wow, Gennai's got a nice place here!" Tai said, looking around.

"Yeah, I'll bet he doesn't get those annoying door-to-door salesmen either," Matt added.

"What's a Salesmon?" Gomamon asked. I chuckled.

"A door-to-door salesman isn't a Digimon. It's a person who goes from house to house trying to sell people things. Most of them are scams, you know, plots to get you to put money out for something it's not worth. My little brothers say they give you indigestion." Everyone looked shocked. "What?"

"You've _eaten_ a person before?!" Mimi asked, making a disgusted face. I blinked, then laughed.

"What?! Good God no! My brothers are scamps, they like to say things like that. Of course, my Father agreed…" Everyone gave me that same freaked look, and I laughed again. "I'm kidding!" They gave weak chuckles, and I decided to keep the human-eating jokes to a minimum. "Uh, come on, let's look for that Gennai guy."

We continued our search, not finding anything. We headed out back as Mimi started to shout.

"Gennai? Gennai? GENNAI?!"

"Geez, I'm old, not deaf!" Gennai said, and we turned to see him standing on a little bridge about four or so feet away. "Quit yelling! Who needs doorbells, when you have such noisy visitors?"

"Hey! Gennai!" Tai said as we jogged over to stand by the small bridge. Gennai was tossing some bread or something into a tiny stream beneath the bridge. I scowled, wondering how there was a stream here when we were technically at the bottom of a very large pond or lake of some kind. "It's really you!"

"What, were you expecting Santa Claus?"

"No, it's just we've never seen the real you before." Tai said. "Why are you always hiding?"

"I'm not," Gennai said.

"Well, why did you always use those projections and never come in person?"

"It was just a show, to impress you."

"What kind of person are you?" Joe asked, shoving his glasses up his nose again. Gennai gave a chuckle.

"A human, or some kinda Digimon?" TK asked.

"That's not important," Gennai replied.

"Why do you keep calling us DigiDestined?" Matt asked now.

"Easy! I'm old, not deaf!" Gennai repeated. "It's because you were chosen to save this world, and your own as well."

"But…how were we chosen?" Matt asked, frowning.

"Yeah, all we did was sign up for summer camp, not save-the-worlds camp," Sora added.

"Well, that's all you need to know for now. Come inside. What's important at the moment is to get you all back to your world. That and some nice soup and a sandwich. By the way, it's good to see you all, in person anyways. I was beginning to worry. What took so long?"

"It was a long walk," Joe said. "Do you think we could sit down and eat now? I'm famished and tired."

"That's a good idea," Gennai said, joining us. "Come on, let's get you all fed and settled in, and cleaned up in your case," he added, shooting me a look. I snorted and he laughed a little, leading us into his house.

As the door shut, I noticed the water began to lower, until the house was completely submerged by it. I looked around.

"How do you keep the water from getting into the house?" I asked.

"Digital house, digital water. It's all very complicated, unless you know computer talk."

"Ugh, no," I said. "I don't understand anything once people start talking in computer terms."

"Well, to make it simple, all you need to know is the programming for the water and my house can be changed, so the two don't mix with each other. They are each strictly separate. That's why the water doesn't come into the house, its programming simply can't override the programming of my house, as it would need to do if it were to soak me." He laughed a little at that, and I shook my head.

"That's simple?" I muttered as we all sat down.

"Don't worry about it," Gennai said. "Now then, about your problem."

"Oh yeah, we have to get back to the Real World and save the Eighth Child!" Sora said. Gennai nodded solemnly.

"Indeed you do. Hold on a moment." The old man left the room for a moment, and returned holding something in his hands. They were Digimon cards of some kind. "These cards are the same kind Myotismon used to open the gates," Gennai said as he placed them on the table before us, spreading them out in two rows of five. "They can be considered keys, if you so desire."

"Awesome!" Tai exclaimed as we studied the cards, which had the names of the Digimon they depicted under the picture. There was Agumon, Gomamon, Etemon, Centarumon, Leomon, Bakemon, Elecmon, Chuumon, Andromon, and Digitamamon. "How did you get these?"

"It was a while ago, and I don't really remember. But that's not important. What _is_ important is that you have to use these cards to open the gates to the Real World."

"How do we do that?" Izzy asked. Gennai said nothing at first, then nodded.

"The cards have to be placed in a specific order to unlock and open the gates. It takes nine cards to do so. But there are a few problems. For one, there are nine holes in the lock for the gates, one for each card."

"Well, you've given us one too many cards," Izzy said.

"Right you are!" Gennai said with a smile. "One of these cards if a fake, and you'll need to find out which one."

"Why can't you just tell us?" Mimi asked.

"I don't know which is the fake," Gennai answered. "All I know is that these cards are needed to open the gates, and that they MUST be placed in an exact order."

"Hey, no problem," Tai said with a shrug. "We'll just try combing the cards until we get the right order."

"You will do _NO_ such thing, you silly boy! There are many, MANY different worlds, and if you put the cards in the wrong order you'll open the gates to a different world! Who knows where you'd end up if you did that?! You most certainly will _not_ do that! Do you understand me?" Gennai cried, moving in a flash and giving Tai a good shake. "You might end up going to a world where Digimon and humans switch skins!"

"Oh, no way!" Mimi cried. "I like my skin, thank you!"

"Don't worry" Gennai said, releasing Tai and clearing his throat, "you won't be switching skins with anyone as long as you learn the correct order of the cards."

"Right," said Joe. "But how do we do that, if we only have one shot? There are so many combinations! We have no idea which is the right one!"

"You'll just have to use your instinct, and learn how to use your power the Myotismon is using his." Gennai said. "That, and your brains. Now then, I have something else to show you." He walked over to a wall, where a map lowered from the ceiling. "Let's take a look at the weather, state, county, city. Anyone recognize this area?"

"That's our hometown!" Tai said. Gennai nodded.

"That's right. And this," he pointed to a blinking red dot, "indicates Myotismon's location."

"No way!" Matt cried as the others gasped. I narrowed my eyes.

"He's only about a mile from where we all live," Matt muttered, his eyes glued to the red circle."

"I'll bet he goes downtown!" Tai exclaimed. "This is not good."

"No, it isn't. That's why, tomorrow, I am going to show you the proper way to use these cards. Now then, Shavirin."

Gennai turned to face me, and I blinked.

"Yeah?"

"We need to take care of your back, then you all should eat and get some sleep."

"Uuh…my back…" I muttered. "Um, well, isn't like with the water and your house? Different programming and stuff?"

"How should I know? I'm just an old man who happens to live in the Digital World and knows certain things about it. I can't tell you what kind of nasty parasites might like to make a home in those unpleasant wounds you've got."

"Well, since you put it like that, I guess I don't have a choice," I said. Gennai nodded and stood.

"Exactly right. Now wait here."

"Where exactly would we go?" Matt asked as Gennai walked off again. "I don't feel like taking a dip right now."

"I know one thing," I said. "Myotismon better hope he doesn't run into my Pack, because after that battle the scent of my blood will be all over him. We wolf-Lycans don't take kindly to those who attack members of our family, or ones we care for."

"Where are you from?" TK asked.

"Around the same area you guys live," I answered, unable to keep the growl of satisfaction from my voice. "If Myotismon _does_ have the misfortune of meeting with my Pack, it'll be something I doubt he'll live to regret. My Father can be very aggressive when it comes to protecting us." I gave a little chuckle. "In fact, I'll even for sorry for him. Father'll rip him to shreds, and then the Pack will probably eat him."

"We could only hope," Matt muttered darkly. "But I doubt it would be that easy. Myotismon is stronger than he lets on, I can guarantee you that."

"I agree with Matt," Izzy said. "Despite how strong we know he is from previous encounters, we don't really know the full depths of Myotismon's strength."

"Ah well, we'll find a way to beat him," Tai said.

"I'm back," Gennai called after a moment. He came in and sat beside me, holding a small, wooden bowl filled with a strange-smelling liquid. It was strongly spicy, and made my nose itch. He also had a few rags made of a soft-looking material.

"Now then, let's get this over with. It won't be pleasant, just so you're forewarned," he said, motioning for me to turn. I shifted so my back was to him. "You're lucky, it looks like Myotismon's aim wasn't on par, or these wounds would be much worse."

"How can you tell?" Izzy inquired as he joined Gennai in studying my injuries.

"The way the edges of these gashes are slightly jagged. If Myotismon's aim had been perfect, so would the wounds."

"Ah, that makes sense," Izzy muttered. I sighed.

"Can we please get on with this?"

"Oh, yes, right," Gennai said. "Ah, but there is one problem."

"Now what?"

"Well, you would like to keep your decency, right?" I blinked. "Alright, everyone out! I'll call you back in when I'm done!"

"Suits me, I really didn't want to watch this anyways," Joe said weakly as he and the others stood, walking out of the room. After a moment it was only Gennai and myself.

"Alright then, let's get this back of yours taken care of, Gennai said as he tugged my shirt up, enough to let him see the full extent of my injuries. "You're very lucky. It seems Myotismon was trying to either sever your spinal cord or break your backbone. Either way, if he'd succeeded, if would have either paralyzed or killed you. Another inch or two and you'd have been down and out, permanently."

"Thanks, yeah, now that I know how close to either certain death or incapacitation I came, I feel SO much better."

"I hope it won't affect you any, because I think you were brought here to help Tai and the others defeat Myotismon. Either that, or you just happened to stumble upon a stray portal between the worlds. Personally, I don't believe in coincidence.."

"If I'm supposed to help them, hypothetically speaking, then why didn't I just stay in the Real World? I would have met with them sooner or later, and my Pack would be there too."

"Well now, what would you prefer: being brought to the Digital World and finding out about all this the easy way, or staying in the Real World, suddenly finding yourself fighting strange creatures you've never seen before, and putting your family into dangers you know nothing about?" I said nothing to that, knowing Gennai was right. I sighed softly as he began to clean the wounds At first, there was a painful burning sensation that made Myotismon's attack pale in comparison. I winced a little but didn't complain. "Speaking of which, why don't you tell me about yourself and your family?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Just where you come from, your history, that sort of thing."

"Well my Den, er, home, as you'd call it, is on the outskirts of where Myotismon is now. That's what I was telling the others, you know, that Myotismon runs the risk of running into my Pack. We have a few other Dens around the area, but those are used as safe houses and the like, in case we ever need them.

"As for my history, well, I was born in a Birthing Den, you know, one of our other Dens…never mind. There's not much to tell actually. I never went to a human school, for obvious reasons. My parents taught me everything I needed to know: hunting tactics, how to change, how to use my powers, that sort of thing. I'm the second oldest from the litter. My sister Renia was born first, then me, then Kio and Pagii. Also, a few years after I was born my cousins Ikau, Dem, and Jerith joined the Pack. Like I said, not much to tell."

"There's nothing particularly interesting that happened to you, anything worth noting?"

"If there is then I can't remember it."

"Ah well, in due time, I suppose."

"Uh, exactly why is all this important?"

"I'm just curious, that's all. Now, how does you back feel?"

I shifted lightly, tensing and relaxing the muscles in my back. Nothing. The burning had stopped.

"I don't feel anything."

"Good, good, that's what we want. Now let's get that welt on your tummy and we can call the others in and eat!" I turned, and we were silent as Gennai cleaned and numbed the painful welt. After he was done, I looked at the Digimon cards still on the table.

"Um, you wouldn't happen to have a clean shirt would you?"

"Let me check." Gennai left the room yet again, taking the odd-smelling stuff in the bowl and the bloody rags with him. He returned a moment later, tossing me a clean black shirt. I quickly turned and peeled my old shirt off, and slipped the new one on.

"Thanks," I said. Gennai nodded, then poked his head out into the hallway where the others were waiting.

"Alright, we're done. Come back in." Everyone filed back into the room and sat around the table. Gennai waved a hand at us. "Now then, let me get us some food together." For about the fourth or so time, he wandered out of the room, to return about ten minutes later with a large platter. I wondered how such a little man could carry something that was obviously quite heavy, but I kept my mouth shut as I moved the Digimon cards onto the floor and we all took bowls and small cups full of some sort of juice or something.

"It's about time!" Joe said as he started to eat. Everyone else dug in. I gave the bowl a little sniff, found the contents smelled quite good, and began to eat myself.

"We're going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, I'll bet," Agumon said as he took a break from slurping at the soup. "I mean, not only do we have to come up with the right combination of cards, but then we'll have to start looking for the Eighth Child, and looking_ out_ for Myotismon."

"We don't have to worry about that right now," Matt said. "But I guess you're right."

"Come on guys," Patamon said brightly. "We'll figure it out."

"And hey, even if we don't we'll still be together!" Gabumon added.

"Thanks," Mimi said, somewhat darkly.

We ate in silence from then on. I started to feel lonely, because I had never been from my Pack for so long. I had just finished eating when suddenly a blanket of darkness fell over the sky.

"What's going on?" I yelped, jumping. Gennai chuckled.

"It seems the kids forgot to mention that night comes very quickly here."

"Oh…" I muttered, settling back down and feeling quite stupid. After a few moments, the others finished their food as well. I stretched.

"Ah, by the way Izzy, have you been using the Digimon Analyzer I gave you?"

"Of course, but there's one slight problem with it."

"Oh? What's that?"

"I've only been able to access information on Digimon I've seen, not the information of those the others have."

"Ah, that is a problem, isn't it? Well, give my your computer and I'll modify it tonight." Izzy shrugged off the odd pack he had on his back that held his laptop and passed the whole thing to Gennai. The old man stood and sighed.

"And now, I believe it's time for us to all turn in and get some sleep. I'll get your laptop modified first though. The rest of you should turn in and get some sleep, I suppose I should say." He took the cards from where they were on the floor. "Don't worry about the dishes, I'll take care of them tomorrow. Well, goodnight everyone. See you in the morning." With that said, the old man walked out of the room, flicking off the lights as he went.

It didn't take long before the others drifted to sleep. I was the last one awake within ten minutes.

_What did I do to get myself tangled up in all this? _I thought, staring at the ceiling. I wasn't a normal person, granted, but STILL! I sighed and rolled onto my side, closing my eyes. _Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. What's done is done and can't be undone, as they say. I'm just going to have to make the best out of it all._

Soon, I joined the others in blissful unconsciousness.

"Wow Joe, why don't you eat the bones too?" Sora asked, smiling a little. It was breakfast and we were eating some fish. I wondered if they were from this area, or if Gennai had gotten them from somewhere else.

"I was hungry, okay?" Joe replied, shooting her a look.

"I'll take those!" I said brightly, reaching over and plucking the bones from Joe's plate. I was blissfully unawares of the looks I got from everyone as I popped them into my mouth and crunched them happily.

"O….kay then…" Matt said. Just then, Gennai entered the room.

"Good morning all. I hope you slept well," he said as he sat between Tai and myself.

"Morning," we all chorused. Gennai nodded, then he placed Izzy's laptop on the table and opened it.

"Izzy, I've finished the modifications to your laptop. When you insert someone's DigiVice into this adapter," he pointed to a slot to the left of the keyboard, "the Analyzer will show information on any Digimon that person has seen. I also put on a new screensaver, you know, the one with the colored fishes swimming around? I really like that one."

"Prodigious! Great minds do think alike! Thanks Gennai," Izzy said as he closed the laptop and put it back into the pack Gennai handed him. He then replaced it over his shoulders and shifted it so it was, I assume, in a comfortable position against his spine. I swallowed the bones I was chewing on and yawned. After a few moments of showing us how to position the cards and the like, Gennai stood, as did the rest of us.

"And now, I have a request. I want you all to never forget that you are the DigiDestined."

_Except for me,_ I thought.

"I'm never going to forget this stomachache," Joe moaned, holding his gut.

"Come on Joe, this is serious!" Sora exclaimed. Gennai nodded.

"I have done all I can to help you. I can't assist you anymore once you enter Myotismon's castle. Good luck!"

A while later, we were back at Myotismon's castle. A group of DeviDramon was prowling around outside.

"Man, this place is scarier than it was last time!" Joe remarked as we crouched behind some trees, watching the large Digimon. "How do we get passed the DeviDramon?"

"Leave it to me!" Tentomon said. "I'll take them out while you all get in!" Tai and Izzy nodded, and Tentomon flew forward. "TENTOMON DIGIVOLVE TO…KABUTERIMON! KABUTERIMON DIGIVOLVE TO…MEGAKABUTERIMON!!!" MegaKabuterimon looked like a giant stag beetle with a hard red shell and a blue gem on his back. "HORN BUSTER!!!"

"Now's our chance!" Izzy cried as MegaKabuterimon attacked the DeviDramon. We hurried inside the castle. "So much for a quiet entrance!"

"HORN BUSTER!!!" MegaKabuterimon bellowed, and the attack caused the castle to shake madly. Afterwards, a little pink blob with arms suddenly rolled in front of us.

"Motimon!" Izzy said, going to the little Digimon and picking him up. Just as he did, there was a blinding flash.

"Woah! What happened?" Motimon asked. Everything was right side-up now.

"You've fixed the warp in space!" Izzy said

"Let's worry about that later!" Matt said.

"Right!" we said in unison and continued on. A few moments later, we were once more in the chamber of the gates that would take us back to the Real World.

"Alright, I guess it's time to decide," Matt said as Izzy took the cards from a pocket and spread them out on the ground. We all knelt around them and studied them.

"So many combinations," Tai muttered. "Where do we start? I mean, maybe they go in order of good ones, bad ones, and funky ones?"

"Or maybe it's Rookie, Champion, Ultimate," Joe offered.

"Or it _could_ be small ones, medium ones, big ones. How do we know for sure? And we _still_ don't know which card is the fake one," Matt said. We all fell silent for a moment and continued to study the cards.

"Maybe it's where they lived, water or land," Sora said.

"Maybe it's something to do with their names. Like Agumon starts with A, that's letter one. And then, oh, no, that really doesn't make sense. Izzy, what are you looking at?" Izzy had moved to the lock podium and was studying the stone lock.

"Myotismon used a spell to open the gates. I think it has something to do with these pictures." We all stood and crowded around him. Izzy pointed to three little symbols along the top of the stone lock. One was a little lion's face, one was an archer, and the other was a monkey's face. "I know some of these, like Leo for the lion and Sagittarius for the archer. But there's no monkey in any horoscope I know of. And what's the significance of the star pattern?" He pointed to the left side of lock, where there was one star, two stars, and three stars in a vertical row. "I just don't get it…"

Suddenly, there was a crashing noise a ways from where we were. Following the crash was a faint quake.

"Huh?" Matt grunted.

"What was that noise?" TK asked, sounding slightly worried.

"I don't know," Matt replied.

"Well, maybe someone should go and take a-" Mimi started.

"I'll go find out!" Patamon said, flapping off. We watched him until he disappeared, then turned back to the problem at hand.

"Come on guys, let's get back to the cards," Tai said.

"What's the point?" Joe said balefully. "We'll never unlock these gates!"

"Joe!" Sora cried. "Don't even say that!"

"Even if we put the cards in the slots so it looks right, there's no way of knowing till it's too late!"

"We have to try, Joe," Matt said softly. Before any of us could respond, there came another crash and quake.

"Something tells me we don't have much time," Tai muttered. Just then, Patamon came back.

"Guys!" he cried, worry making his voice tight, "the walls and ceiling are caving in! The passages are all blocked up!"

"That means we can't go back the way we came in," Matt said as Patamon landed on TK's head. "We're trapped."

"If I had to, I could blast a way out of here for us," I said, looking at the walls. "But, I don't think that's a choice. No turning back after we've come this far."

"Shavirin's right," Izzy said. "We aren't going back, so it doesn't matter. But we _do_ need to get out of here before this chamber collapses as well. Now we have to open the gates. One of us has to choose nine cards, put them in the slots, and that'll be that."

"You do it, Tai," Joe piped.

"_ME?_" Tai said incredulously.

"Yeah. It's your call."

"Mine? Why is it up to me?!"

"I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything like that. I just think we all really believe in you Tai."

"Me…?"

"Yeah, I don't even know you and I feel compelled to leave this to you," I said, smiling. "And I'm usually the stubborn one."

"They're right," Matt said. "In times like these, decisions need to be made by the one in charge."

"Hold on!" Tai cried. "Have you all gone crazy? Who made me leader?!"

"I will, if you'd like," I said. "After all, I'm wolf-Lycan. We need leader to survive."

"No thanks," Tai said, looking completely horrified by the prospect of being the one to choose the cards.

"Do you remember when you were gone Tai? We fell apart when you weren't around," Matt said roughly. Tai blinked.

"But-"

"And after all that, you were the one who managed to bring us all together again."

"Yeah but-"

"Just do it Tai!" Mimi said suddenly.

"Mimi…"

"I just wanna get back home, that's all! Oh!" She looked down, her voice soft. "I'm being selfish again. I…I have to remember we're a team." She looked up and gave Tai a little smile. "Come on Tai, save the day!"

"Yeah, we have to believe in our friends. Remember what Gennai said?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, he said to believe in our power. You believe, don't you Tai?" Matt said, all of us looking at Tai now. The young man shifted his weight, looking doubtful.

"Maybe…" he said softly.

"Come on! We've been through a lot of weird stuff already!" Joe said. "If we hadn't stuck together, we never woulda beat SeaDramon."

"Or smashed Tyrannomon!" Matt said with a somewhat evil grin.

"Or escaped Toy Town," Mimi said. I only nodded, having no idea of what they were all talking about now, since all this had happened before I'd met them.

"And I would still be making fries in Veggiemon's diner if you hadn't saved me. Come on Tai, you can do it!" Joe said, pumping a fist in the air.

"Yeah!" we all cried in chorus. "You can do it Tai!"

"Alright," Tai said after a moment. "So you're all leaving it up to me to get the gates open, right? And whatever I decide is the best way, you're all willing to go along with it?" We all nodded. "Well, I've decided I want Izzy to do it."

""What?!" Izzy cried, now the one looking shocked. "You do? Why me?"

"If that's what Tai thinks, then I accept it," Mimi said. I nodded again. Actually, I was having a hard time just standing here and doing nothing. I wanted to take charge, be the leader, not only because of my wolf-Lycan instincts, but because I knew soon we'd be out of time. But I kept my tongue in check and decided to let Tai and the others do this themselves. They had to.

"Me too," Matt said. "Don't worry Izzy, Tai believes in you and so do the rest of us."

"But…but what happens in I'm wrong?"

"No one will blame you Izzy," Mimi said.

"We all know you're the one for the job," Tai said, smiling. "Go for it!"

"I still have no idea how this all fits together!"

"Maybe you could try using your computer," Motimon said. Izzy nodded and a moment later had his laptop out.

"Right now I'd rather use it to log onto the Internet and book us a flight out of this place…" He typed in silence as the castle continued to fall all around. The rest of us watched him anxiously. "Huh? The horse, the lion, and the monkey…" We all snapped to attention as Izzy studied the screen. Then he gave a little cry. "That's it!"

"Have you got it?" Matt asked.

"I think so. Everyone give me your DigiVices for a moment." The other kids handed Izzy their DigiVices, small blue devices that looked like some sort of handheld gaming system or something. After inserting each into the adaptor Gennai had installed and uploading the data on all the Digimon the others had seen, he gave a cry of triumph. "Yes!"

"You figured it out?" Tai asked. Izzy nodded.

"I think so! Check it out guys. The first three, the lion, the horse, and the monkey, would be Leomon, Centarumon, and Etemon. Also, there is one of each classification, Data, Virus, and Vaccine. And the stars, starting from the top, stand for Rookie, Champion, and Ultimate. And now, we can put the cards in the right order." After a few seconds, Izzy had placed all the cards in their correct order. We all cheered.

"Way to go! I knew you'd get it!" Tai said, slapping Izzy on the back. The red-haired boy shook his head.

"There's still one problem. We don't know which card is the fake." He motioned to the Rookie slot, where both Agumon's and Gomamon's cards were.

"But we made it this far. That's great!" Joe remarked.

"I guess it is," Izzy said, looking quite pleased. I smiled and nodded, again.

"Tai can pick which card is the fake, " Sora said.

"If I can't everyone gets ice cream, and I'm buying," Tai said, grinning. We all laughed, until I heard an odd noise coming from above us.

"What's that noise?" I asked. Everyone fell silent and listened. Suddenly, a huge yellowish spider with a brown mane and six eyes slammed to the ground before us.

"Aah!" we cried in shock.

"What is that?" Tai asked as we moved away from it.

"Hold on and I'll tell you," Izzy answered, looking at his laptop. After a moment he looked back up at the spider. "It's Dokugumon, an evil Digimon with computer viruses covering his body!" We could tell what the computer viruses were; little mins-spiders crawling all over Dokugumon's back.

"Intruders in the castle must be destroyed!" the Digi-spider croaked. "Go get them!" The little spiders all shot at us.

"GOMAMON DIGIVOLVE TO…IKKAKUMON! HARPOON TORPEDO!"

"GABUMON DIGIVOLVE TO…GARURUMON! HOWLING BLASTER!"

"PALMON DIGIVOLVE TO…TOGEMON! NEEDLE SPRAY!"

"BIYMON DIGIVOLVE TO…BIRDRAMON! METEOR WING!"

As the four Champions battled against Dokugumon, the rest of us turned to Tai, who was staring at the stone lock.

"Hurry! We're running out of time!" Agumon cried.

"I can't deicde! What if I choose the wrong card?!" Tai said, sounding petrified.

"Just choose!" Mimi said.

"If I choose wrong, we're toast!"

"POISON COBWEBS!" The four Digimon were caught in a sickly purple web.

"Garurumon!" Matt cried as the Digimon writhed. Ikkakumon and Togemon were forced to de-Digivolve back to Gomamon and Palmon.

"Biymon, Digivolve again!" Sora cried. Birdramon nodded.

"BIRDRAMON DIGIVOLVE TO…GARUDAMON!"

"Do it Garurumon!" Matt shouted.

"GARURUMON DIGIVOLVE TO…WEREGARURUMON!"

Garudamon was a huge red-brown, elegant bird with sweeping wings and powerful-looking arms and legs. WereGarurumon made me feel proud as he looked like a large werewolf. I felt a kinship to the large blue were-Digimon.

"WING BLADE!" Garudamon cried, shooting a phoenix of flames at Dokugumon.

"WOLF CLAW!" WereGarurumon bellowed, slashing at the spider Digimon and sending four jagged beams of red energy at him.

"Come on Tai!" Matt cried as the Digimon fought and the castle fell. "You gotta choose!"

"Okay!" Tai cried. "It's this one!" He grabbed the Agumon card, leaving the Gomamon card in the slot. "That's it! Come on!"

The gates began to move, and a few moments later they stood wide open.

"It worked!" TK cried happily. We all began to run forward.

"Come on WereGarurumon!" Matt said as the large Digimon de-Digivolved to his In-Trinaing form, a tan creature with a large horn on his head. Matt picked him up.

"Garudamon!" Sora cried as the bird also de-Digivolved to her In-Training form. She was pink with a blue flower on her head. She looked more like a plant than a bird. Sora quickly took the little Digimon into her arms and we all ran for the gate.

"You'll never get out of here in one piece!" Dokugumon cried angrily, but he was too weak to attack us anymore.

"That was close!" Matt cried just as we reached the gates. Without looking back, we jumped.

"Where are we?" Tai asked, looking around. We all stood slowly, none of us having landed on our feet.

"This…this is the camp! You did it Tai!" Joe cried happily.

"Oh! Home!" Mimi said, looking just a little too happy.

"WE're back where we were before we were sucked into the Digital World." Sora said. "But…where are our Digimon?"

"I wonder if I got the cards wrong after all?" Tai said softly as everyone looked around for their Digimon.

"Then in this world, we could be without them?" Sora sounded sad, and everyone looked depressed.

"You could never get rid of us that easily!" came a reply. We all looked over at a small hill and saw the seven Digimon standing there. Biymon and the others ran to their human friends, where much hugging ensued for the next few moments.

"Where were you guys?" Tai asked.

"We thought we ought to go look for lunch," Gomamon said. Everyone chuckled.

"Hey, now that we're home, we don't have to eat leaves anymore! We can eat cheeseburgers!" Joe said, grinning.

"And pizza!" Mimi said.

"And French fries!" TK replied.

"And ice cream!" Matt remarked.

"And broccoli!" Sora replied.

"_Broccoli?_" the rest of us gagged, then laughed. I myself couldn't wait for some deer, even though I'd only been gone for about a day and a half.

"Hey Tai, how did you know my card was the fake?" Agumon asked suddenly. We all faced Tai, who grinned.

"I didn't. I kept your card 'cause you're my friend," he answered.

"Awww, Tai, that's so nice," Agumon said, blushing a little. The rest of us chuckled.

"Hey! We got to get looking for the Eighth Child!" Tai said suddenly, reminding us of our mission.

"Yeah, and we gotta get a move on too, since Myotismon has a lead on us," Matt replied.

"Yeah!" we cheered, pumping our fists in the air. I myself knew things were about to get really interesting.

_Really _interesting…

Well, hope you liked this chapter! I've already started on chapter three, and so hopefully I'll have it up soon. Don't forget to R&R, I likies the reviews!


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